Cal report - Essay Example

CAL –WK6-KC In week 5 we were asked to carry out our first Critical Literature Review related to our particular work place problems and of concerns.There were a number of materials relating to the management of companies which are finance based. These discussed at length the constraints upon management have an effect upon the general structure of the organizations concerned and considered major problems currently causing difficulties my place of work (KFIC) where there are conflicts between the management team and the Board and also among managers This weeks teaching has been especially instructive.

with regard to the way knowledge has been spread and shared in the past and in the contexts of economics and sociology. I found the writings of Abrahamson (1991) and Huczynski (1993) important in my situation. They provide a backdrop to the many ways in which knowledge can be created and communicated. They look at the roles played by those who set fashions and argue as to why some innovations are preferred over others. Barley and Kunda (1992) discussed “normative” and “rational” philosophies and the way in these have an impact on the adoption and spread of innovations.

This enables a reflection on the topic of innovation and the awareness of the context in which a particular problem is placed, whether political, economic or social. Ramsay (1977) stresses the same point by pointing to the part played by changing ideas and the impact that rhetoric can make to management decisions as to whether to adopt innovations and to and implement them. . I found that participation in the learning set was especially helpful with the reflective process, because the other members questioned some of my ideas and the assumptions I held which might be behind my responses to situations.

This spurred me on to wider reading and to my making a thorough assessment of the biases that affect me and the pattern or paradigm this fits into. . Huczynski (1993) gave us an important system of classifying the ways in which management fashions and fads have an effect upon organizations. He also looked at the levels of commitment of individuals within companies, which it was found to be more or less consistent across differing sectors. In my company’s case there is conflict when the manager’s are trying to implement their own ideas, while it is the board members who, for their own perceived benefits, or in order to comply with what is done elsewhere in subsidiaries, enforce particular fads which conflict with what the managers want.

Another KFIC problem is the conflict between an established team and a newer team . This gap between these often opposed groups creates tension which spills over into the rest of the company and both its structures and functions. My aim will be to create a clear communication system for knowledge so that there are less negative effects within the company and the individuals who work there. Through discussion both with my colleagues, and also with the Chairman of the Board, I was able to effectively take concepts discussed this week into the workplace.

We talked about the way in which ideas which were really only passing fads had been adopted, and the ways in which we needed as an organisation to take more care about how processes were taken up and then spread. This is important as in the past there have been a number of innovations adopted by the company which in practice were eventually counter productive and inefficient. As a company we are now aware that more care needs to be taken when innovations are being considered for adoption and diffusion.

References ABRAHAMSON, E. (1991) ‘Managerial fads and fashions: the diffusion and rejection of innovations’, Academy of Management Review, 16, pp.586-612, EBSCOhost [Online]. Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/detail?hid=105&sid=446561bf-3152-405d-87fd-f6972fd2d38e%40sessionmgr115&vid=37&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=buh&AN=4279484 (Accessed 5th August 2011). BARLEY,S. and KUNDA,G. (1992) Design and devotion: surges of rational and normative ideologies of control in managerial discourse, Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, pp.

363-399, EBSCOhost [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=9301240825&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed 5TH August 2011). HUCZYNSKI, A. (1993) Explaining the succession of management fads, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 4 (2), pp.443-463, EBSCOhost [Online]. Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/detail?hid=105&sid=446561bf-3152-405d-87fd-f6972fd2d38e%40sessionmgr115&vid=39&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=buh&AN=5802685 (Accessed 5TH August 2011).

RAMSEY, H. (1977) Cycles of control: worker participation in sociological and historical perspective, Sociology, 11 (3), pp.481-506, Sage Journals [Online]. Available from: http://soc.sagepub.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/content/11/3/481.full.pdf+html (Accessed: 5TH August 2011).